 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-08-21 01:55
Can somebody direct me, make recommendations, regharding hardware for a MIDI setup. I understand I can play wthrough my sound card, but that I will need a scanner and a MIDI KEYEBOARD & CONTROLLER??? I have looked at some Notation prograsma nd read many reviews. I have a demo of Finale 2001 on the way. Point me or explain ? Thanks.
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-08-21 02:11
BTW: I did follow and breifly explore some of the Links here on SNEEZY in the MIDI section. Dound some books to read there. Anybody have a favorite book on MIDI?
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-21 02:23
Mark,
You'll need a soundcard, most probably a MIDI splitter (most soundcards use the joystick port as a Midi in/out port so it need a splitter), and a Midi keyboard if you plan on inputting notes via a keyboard. If you aren't planning on using a keyboard to input notes (I use a mouse 99% of the time) then you don't need the keyboard. Finale 2000/2001 will work fine as a notation program but it is a bit expensive. I use the 2000 version.
No scanner is needed unless you're looking at taking printed music and converting it - and the fixup is done much faster using a mouse than a keyboard.
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Author: Ron D
Date: 2000-08-21 04:01
Check out www.musiciansfrend.com they offer a book called understanding MIDI for about $14.00 US It starts with the basics and is very helpfull.
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Author: Allen Cole
Date: 2000-08-21 04:58
I'm not an advanced MIDI user, so I usually generate my files from Noteworthy Composer or Sibelius.
If you do a lot of writing, I'd suggest that you investigate Sibelius. I switched to it from Finale two months ago and it's the best move I ever made. Extremely user-friendly. The price can be steep, though, and I would strongly suggest trying to get the educational package if you qualify.
http://www.sibelius.com
If you are mostly tinkering and experimenting, Noteworthy Composer is really cheap and is an outstanding performer.
http://www.noteworthycomposer.com
Good luck,
Allen
allencole@richmond.com
http://allencole.tripod.com
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2000-08-21 08:02
There are a lot of programs out there which can be used as Midi sequencers. They allow you to type in notes which can then play out of the midi synthesizer which is built in to your soundcard. A good one is Cakewalk Pro Audio 8.
Many of these sequencers claim to support musical notation, but their support is limited. Once you start doing anything complicated, they get lost. These are the sort of things you might want to do which the sequencers will have problems notating:
- Alto clef.
- Lyrics along with the music.
- Slurs on notes.
- Triplets.
- A triplet with one of the three notes replaced by a rest.
- Syncopated rhythm: quaver crotchet quaver. Some programs convert this to four quavers with the middle two tied. This doesn't look the same at all.
G# instead of Ab. Some programs decide for themselves whether to use the flat or the sharp and you can't change it.
- A sharp or flat where it is not strictly necessary, such as an F# when the key signature is the key of G. Such sharps are sometimes put in as reminders to the player, but the sequencer can't cope.
- Control of the direction of the stems of the notes. In vocal music, the soprano and alto are often written on the same stave. Soprano notes point upwards and alto notes point downwards. Some programs can't do this.
This is just a flavour of the sort of thing you have to think about if you are seriously into musical notation.
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Author: J. Butler
Date: 2000-08-21 16:47
I agree with Ron on the Sibelius. I started using it about a year ago. I went to one of the workshops offered by them here in Houston. BTW they had another one this last weekend. The GREAT thing about the workshop was the price included a copy of the software, midi keyboard (Yamaha), and a midi cable. This was offered for music teachers in our area in conjuction with H&H Music (Brook Mays,et al), Sibelius, and the school district technology department. Can't say they do the same over the rest of the country. I guess there are advantages to teaching once in awhile.
J. Butler
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-08-21 19:51
Is one soundcard better than another? Who sells splitter devices? Is one better than another. Saw a Peavey splitter online & saw schematics for making one's own (not).
One of the things I liked about a demo of Finale 2001 that I saw was the ability to scan music in & have the system play it back for you. SO, on a jumpy piece where you've lots of tempo changes ... it sounds (very) useful. Of course, the ability to import a MIDI file & print music out is a fetching idea too. My understanding is that non-copyrighted music is avilable and can be downloaded into Finale,and programs like it, and then print out the music. This is also possible with copyrighted music where you would buy or download the midi file and then print out your music.
I can think of many, many other uses for a high-end notation program, and I probably wouldn't even be hitting the surface ...
Thanks.
mw
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Author: Eoin McAuley
Date: 2000-08-21 21:49
All sound cards which are Sound Blaster compatible, and that probably means all sound cards, have a built-in MIDI synthesizer, so they can all play MIDI music. The MIDI standard has 256 different instruments, each identified by a number. For example, 5 is a "Rhodes piano" if I remember correctly. Another number would be a clarinet and another would be a chorus of human voices without words. The better the sound card, the better the synthesized sounds, so the oboe will sound like an oboe, the shakuhachi will sound like a shakuhachi. But all sound cards can play something in the right rhythm and right pitch.
You don't need a splitter cable unless you have a joystick as well. A joystick is something I've never seen any need for. Lara Croft performs her athletics perfectly under keyboard control.
You can import a MIDI file directly into a program like Finale and print it out, but it will look rather peculiar. If your piece of music changes key, this will not be reflected in the MIDI, as far as I know. The MIDI file holds all the notes at the right pitch, but it doesn't know about key signatures, so the notes will all appear in the original key, with loads of sharps or flats. You may have to play around with the file a bit to get it into a "human readable" form before printing it.
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Author: Dee
Date: 2000-08-21 22:10
Eoin has already commented on the Midi import to programs like Finale, etal. I'll just add a little to that. The import does not do anything to indicate tempo, dynamics, articulations, etc. You will need to add those afterwards. Finale does playback whatever is in the Midi file.
You spoke of scanning in music. Sometimes quite a bit of "clean up" is required on the resulting file. Sometimes only a very little clean up is needed. You can seldom just scan and play.
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-08-21 23:32
Will Finale pickup dynamics off of music which is scanned in? (I saw a demo & wwas told it WOULD do that)
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-21 23:50
Dee et al.,
Mark W. is right - I use the predecessor to what's included in Finale 2001, MidiScan. The dynamics are now incorporated in the scanned file as are trills, ritards, accelerandos, and some other ornamentation. There was a way to do it before but it was a bit more cumbersome. Finale has had "intelligent notation" for quite a while, where hairpins, turns, trills, etc. do "the right thing" in the Midi file - even if there was no way for the Midi file to convert it back to the normal notation.
Mark W. - A Soundblaster Live! Value (bulk) will set you back less than $100 and will be "good enough" for quite a long time. The splitter (you'll need one) is available at any good guitar shop - they'll be an "electronics section". They're cheap. By the time you get the DIN & 15 pin connectors and solder them together you'll end up spending more money than it's worth.
For our purposes (a single MIDI keyboard) I use an old Yamaha PSR-510 that's not a weighted keyboard but does send the velocity & pedal down along with the note info. A weighted keyboard with 88 keys and some bells and whistles but no synth will start at about $600 and rise quickly. The cheaper ones (like mine) start at about $100 or so and are very servicable for note entry.
Also, for our purposes, PC keyboard extension cables available at your local computer shop are much less expensive than "Midi cables", at least in my experience, and are perfectly adequate considering the low data rates of MIDI and the lengths of our cables. I use (2) 6 foot extensions to connect to my music keyboard.
Eoin - MIDI does reflect key changes, and the splitter is required because all you get is a 15 pin connector on all consumer grade soundcards - the 5 pin DINs aren't there.
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Author: mark weinstein
Date: 2000-08-22 02:01
Now (for a dumb question) what is a weighted vs. a non-weighted keyboard? Also, 88 keys vs. 73 keys vs 61 keys? (someone told its the number of OCTAVES that the keyboard can address???)
Also, what is the next step up from SoundBlaster Live! Value (I already own this as I got one with an AMD Athlon Box that had a DVD rom drive. Great sound card. (Seems like it was $75-80 bucks ear;ier this year) What about those cards that Dell loads on some of their boxes. Turtle Beach?
Does the quality of the scanner make a difference? Since this is black & white stuff, I would seriously doubt it?
Thanks to all. I'm infinitely LESS dumb than I was yesterday. mw
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-08-22 02:34
mark weinstein wrote:
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Now (for a dumb question) what is a weighted vs. a non-weighted keyboard?
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A weighted electronic keyboard feels similar to a real keyboard. It uses weights rather than springs for the "feel". The cheap keyboards have basically massless keys.
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Also, 88 keys vs. 73 keys vs 61 keys? (someone told its the number of OCTAVES that the keyboard can address???)
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Literally how many keys the keyboard has. A piano has 88; anything less will require some editing. Mine has 66 (I think), so I have to do a quick octave transposition.
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Also, what is the next step up from SoundBlaster Live! Value (I already own this as I got one with an AMD Athlon Box that had a DVD rom drive. Great sound card. (Seems like it was $75-80 bucks ear;ier this year) What about those cards that Dell loads on some of their boxes. Turtle Beach?
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The next step up isn't a sound card anymore, but a true outboard MIDI synth. Good synths will require you to do patch editing and more. I'll bet you haven't even begun to scratch the surface of that SoundBlaster and the Soundfont editor. Don't spend any more money on a synth 'till you can use everything you've already got! The Soundblaster will do you just fine for quite a while. I've got a Turtle Beach (Montego? Daytona? I forget) on my other computer. I prefer the Soundblaster & Soundfonts.
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Does the quality of the scanner make a difference? Since this is black & white stuff, I would seriously doubt it?
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Somewhat. I use a large format scanner (11 x 17) so I can scan 2 pages at a time, but the $100 scanners should work just fine, too. Make sure you've 600 dpi optical minimum - that's just about a minimum standard nowadays. MidiScan won't make use of (doesn't need) any higher resolution than that.
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Author: Dean Bailey
Date: 2000-09-18 18:42
I've been using Musictime which the maker went belly-up (Passport) and the product was bought by G-vox who is now making some new offerring soon via the net using downloading only.
I am presently looking for a used copy of either Encore or Rhapsody which were upgrades from Musictime but have some features I need now.
Anybody have one they will sell? Place to get one? Store that still has some? (recently discontinued)
Dean
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Author: Mark Charette
Date: 2000-09-18 19:49
Dean,
Write to me off-line. I've got an old copy of Rhapsody somewhere that I haven't used in years.
Mark C.
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The Clarinet Pages
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